It’s been announced today that the Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi and the former president of France François Hollande will both testify at the Nice trial in Paris next month. Eight suspects are standing trial at the special assize court accused of being aware of the attackers' intentions, providing logistical support or supplying weapons. It’s expected that up to 2,000 civil parties, connected to victims who died in the July 14 attack in Nice, will take part in the trial which will last until Christmas.
Health authorities say there is no cause for alarm with the reappearance of dengue fever in Fayence in the Var and St Jeannet north of Nice, where two new cases of the fever have been confirmed today. It brings to seven the number of cases which have been reported in the town. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne illness that occurs in usually in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Mild dengue fever causes a high fever and flu-like symptoms. Authorities say that with the hot summer and the presence of tiger mosquitos, there should be no surprise the fever has reappeared here. However, it is a mild version of the disease and is benign in 99% of cases.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has announced the recruitment of 8,500 additional police and gendarmes in the next five years. Madame Borne said 3,000 of the new police officers would be in place by next year 2023.
The town of Antibes is to run an experiment where advertisers will only be allowed place leaflets in mailboxes which display a sticker saying ‘Oui Pub’, signifying a willingness to accept advertising material. The "Oui Pub" sticker only concerns unaddressed advertising material, and not community information flyers, political and electoral communication, or printed advertising which is addressed by name.
French President Emmanuel Macron has congratulated Liz Truss on officially becoming the new UK Prime Minister, after her formal appointment by the Queen at Balmoral this afternoon. Despite some hostile comments from Ms Truss last week, M Macron said the British people are friends of France and that they would continue to work together to defend shared interests.
BUSINESS
The share price of EDF has crossed the 12 euro price set by the French government to buy out the French energy giant. EDF stock hit a high of €12.03 during morning trading in Paris. The government already controls 84% of EDF shares and announced in July it would nationalise the debt-laden company at €12 a share.
The CEO of Germany's largest gas importer Uniper has warned the ‘worst is still to come’ as concerns over Russian gas supplies to Europe continue to push up prices. He said the wholesale market is 20 times the price that we have seen two years ago, and Europe as a whole needs to open up a discussion on how to fix that.
Porsche says it will only backtrack on its stock market debut, in the event of a severe geopolitical problem, that would make the importance of a listing fade in comparison. Volkswagen and Porsche executives declined to comment on what valuation they expect, however investors estimate a valuation of anywhere between 60 and 85 billion euro.
SPORT
Tennis - At the US Open, it’s quarter-finals day, which opens with Italian Matteo Berrettini taking on Norway’s Casper Rudd. The Norwegian edged the Italian in three sets in Switzerland last July and believes his ability to counter Berrettini's huge serve will be key to his chances of a repeat success in tonight's quarter-final. Also meeting in the last eight tonight are Nick Kyrgios and Karen Khachanov.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal says he may take a break from tennis after his shock departure from the Open last night. The world number 3, whose wife is pregnant, says he needs to fix things in life first and he doesn’t know when he is going to come back. Nadal is scheduled to play later this month at the Laver Cup, alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
Football - There is a spate of Champions League matches tonight including Manchester City away to Sevilla, Dynamo Zagreb host Chelsea and it’s a home game for Paris St Germain against Juventus. Parisian eyes will be on Kylian Mbappe who is downplaying reports of a feud between himself and team-mate Neymar. The two forwards clashed in August's win over Montpellier when Neymar prevented Mbappe from taking a spot-kick, ignoring the order of penalty takers assigned by Christophe Galtier. That match kicks off at 9pm.
Speed restrictions are in place on all major roads in the Alpes-Maritimes today because of a smog alert....
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A Marseille magistrate has been sentenced on the 17th of June in Nîmes for repeatedly avoiding motorway tolls using fake license plates. ...
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A major police stop-and-search operation along France's borders is being carried out today, involving 4,000 police officers, gendarmes and customs off...
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SFR has announced automatic compensation of 100GB of free mobile data for affected customers following a major network outage on the 16th of June....
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French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a high-level Security and Defence Council meeting at the Élysée Palace today Wednesday, June 18th at 4pm, ...
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